Armadillo
' Armadillo' (Antonio Rodriguez), is a fictional character, a minor former supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in Captain America #308. History Origin Little is known about the background of Antonio Rodriguez other than he had a criminal record and a wife named Bonita. His wife critically stricken with an undiagnosed disease, Rodriguez took her to every doctor who would see her but none was able to help her. In desperation, Rodriguez sought the criminal scientist Dr. Karl Malus, an expert in the generation and bestowal of superhuman powers, whom he heard about while in prison. Malus agreed to try to cure her in exchange for Rodriguez agreeing to become his test subject and employee for an indefinite period of time. Malus subjected Rodriguez to an experimental process that combined genetic material from an armadillo with the man's human genes. Dubbing Rodriguez the Armadillo, he assigned him to break into the Avengers' West Coast compound to steal the comatose body of the villain Goliath, a former subject of Malus who was being held there. Malus provided Armadillo with a serum to reduce Goliath's immense body to something he could transport discretely. Rodriguez agreed but found himself in combat with the visiting Avenger, Captain America. Although physically superior, Rodriguez lost due to Captain America's superior combat skills. Trapped in a net by Captain America, Armadillo decided to explain his situation (after all, he had been talking about a "life or death situation" during all the fight). Taking compassion on the Armadillo's plight, Captain America refused to turn him over to the authorities. Armadillo had to leave because during the fight he had lost the serum. Captain America suggested that Armadillo could ask Malus for more serum; however, Captain America wanted to follow Armadillo to Malus' hide-out. There, Captain America injured Malus. Malus ordered Armadillo to attack Captain America, but Captain America advised Armadillo not to; they could inadvertedly damage some artifact that could be vital for Bonita. After Malus cured Bonita, Rodriguez then joined the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation. The Armadillo became a major draw for the UCWF, and remained in his monstrous form to earn money for himself and his wife. Armadillo's manager was Lennie J. Feitler. He became a fan favorite and his victory over Doc Sawbones was seen by Captain America himself. In and Out of Prison When Rodriguez discovered Bonita was seeing another man, a person called Ramon, he went on a grief-stricken rampage, attacking even Feitler and Captain America, that was halted only when he jumped from the side of the Empire State Building. Gravely injured, he was reprimanded to police custody. Rodriguez served time in the super-villain correctional facility known as the Vault. Truly repentant, he awaited for parole. During the Armor Wars, and due to Iron Man attack on the Vault, the center suffered a power outage and many prisoners were freed from their cells. Armadillo tried to run away alongside fellow runaways Mister Hyde and Titania. However, she considered that Armadillo could slow the group and knock him away. Armadillo eventually escaped on his own, finding Captain America's van and a person protecting it: Vagabond, one of Captain America's allies. Vagabond convinced Armadillo to surrender willingly and return to the Vault. She also convinced him to abandon his original scheme to get revenge on his unfaithful wife. However, years later, Loki in disguised appeared on the Vault to help the Wizard escape from the Vault. To do so, he set loose all of the prisoners. Iron Man tried to stop them, and he was attacked by many of the prisoners, including Armadillo. Eventually, Armadillo escaped the Vault before Iron Man could seal it off. During the Acts of Vengeance, Armadillo fell under the mind control of Doctor Doom and was ordered, alongside many other villains, to attack the Fantastic Four on Washington D.C. while they were giving a speech to the congress. Armadillo and his pals were defeated by The Thing, Human Torch and the She-Thing. Armadillo probably returned to the Vault. He was then summoned from his current moment by Isbisa, a super-villain with time-control powers. Isbisa wanted to distract the She-Hulk with some villains, including Caliban, Jack O'Lantern, Juggernaut, Master Mold, Rhino and Sabretooth - but the villains attacked each other instead of She-Hulk, and so Isbisa could be easily defeated. The villains returned to the moment they were taken from. Again at his cell on the Vault, Armadillo decided he should remain on prison, serving his sentence. Venom engineered a new breakout from the Vault, but Armadillo did not support it. Alongside with Rhino and the Scarecrow, Armadillo fought Venom's allies Klaw and the Controller - being soundly defeated. Armadillo tried to escape from the Vault during the following massive-breakout-used-as-diversion, this time engineered by the Thunderbolts as a means to free Moonstone. Later, he claimed to be trying to stop the escapees instead of escaping himself, and was convincing enough. He was released under parole. Still a monster, Armadillo frequented the Bar With No Name after his liberation. Ultimate Fighting Leaugue Finally, Armadillo was contacted by Rey Trueno, owner of the Jersey branch of the Ultimate Fighting League. Armadillo trained under Coach Cody and became the regional champion in this new version of his former job. As a champion, he defeated a fighter know as Monster. However, he was mocked by the fans due to his monstrous aspect. Looking for a new champion who could be more marketing-appealing, Rey Trueno hired Daniel Axum, formerly known as the villain Battler, and began grooming him. Coach Cady did not help Armadillo to prepare his fight with Axum. During the match, Armadillo felt betrayed and tried to kill Axum, but Axum won the fight and became the new champion. Armadillo was left alone and became a beggar outside the building, ignored by his former partners. Axum saw him and bought him fast food. They talked and Axum discovered that Armadillo did not really hate him or any of the people who had defeated him. Armadillo was grateful to be alive and optimistic that the good times would come soon. With this speech, Armadillo unwittingly convinced Axum to stop his own plans for revenge against Spider-Man. However, Armadillo worked again with super-villains Constrictor and Jack O'Lantern to rob an armored vehicle. They were defeated by Hercules and Armadillo was sent to the Raft. Electro assaulted the Raft to release Sauron, and Armadillo was released from his cell - however, he was still chained to another prisoner, Tiger Shark. Spider-Man and Captain America went to the Raft to investigate the situation, and the prisoners, including Armadillo, battled them. Armadillo and Tiger Shark later escaped from the Raft and hide in Fairbury, Illinois. There, he was identified by super-hero Speedball (of the New Warriors) posing as a pizza-boy. Not wanting to return to prison, Armadillo attacked. Armadillo was knocked down during the fight with the New Warriors, and rolled into a ball shape; Tiger Shark used him as a living mace. However, the New Warriors also defeated Tiger Shark, and the villains were re-imprisoned. Armadillo joined Vil-Anon (also known as Villains Anonymous), where criminals worked a twelve-step program to overcame criminal tendencies. Civil War During the Civil War, he was spotted at the funeral of Stilt-Man. After poisoning the guests, the Punisher blew up the bar in which the wake had been held. They all had to get their stomachs pumped and were treated for third-degree burns. Around this time, he was seen entering the office of The Consultant, a criminal PR agent of sorts who improves the reputation and occasionally powers of super-villains. Upon Armadillo's entering his office, the Consultant asked his secretary to cancel the rest of his appointments for the afternoon as he anticipated a lot of work improving Armadillo's image. The Armadillo later took part in the Fifty State Initiative, as a member of Texas's superhero team, the Rangers. However, he quickly decided he was not cut out to be a hero and quit. MODOK's 11 He did lucha libre wrestling in Mexico for small cash, and was eventually recruited by MODOK. After being one of the few villains who did not betray MODOK, Armadillo earned more money than initially promised. He happily departed with Puma and Nightshade, with whom he'd developed a friendship, and showed a desire for them to remain as a team. The Hood The Hood hired him as part of his criminal organization to take advantage of the split in the superhero community caused by the Superhuman Registration Act. Armadillo was incarcerated at The Raft next to Doctor Doom prior to the breakout during the Skrull Invasion. Powers and Abilities Powers *'Superhuman Strength:' Armadillo is superhumanly strong and is capable of lifting about 25 tons. *'Superhuman Stamina:' Armadillo's advanced musculature generates consideraly bless fatigue toxins than the muscles of an ordinary human. He can exert himself at peak capacity for aobut 24 hours before fatigue begings to impair him. *'Superhuman Durability:' Armadillo's thickly scaled body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury. His body is capable of resisting high caliber machine gun shells, light anti-tank weaponry, temperature extremes, falls from great heights, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury. *'Claws:' Armadillo's four fingers end with extremely durable, non-retractable, claws. Coupled with his strength, his claws are capable of rending most known materials. They are also highly effective digging tools that he uses to dig tunnels, even though concrete. Possible Role in Ultima Armadillo is currently inactive in the Ultima universe, but here is a possible role for him to play in future events to come: Every time we see him, he wants to go straight. Every time we see him, he is in jail. ''Okay, fine, once or twice he was on a government sponsored super-hero team. Or begging in an alleyway. But his default starting position is jail. And the reason he's always in jail? Because he gives up. Again and again, the Armadillo, a man re-built into a bargain basement bullet-proof Hulk, ''surrenders himself to the authorities. He's either very trusting of the American judicial system or he's a man who's been in jail so long that he's scared of being anywhere else. Think about that last bit for a minute. Let it percolate. The Armadillo is a man looking for rules. He needs them. He needs order to live happily. A boss, co-workers. Structure. That's why he's the perfect super-villain flunky. And ordinarily, I'd be all for that, because I LIKE plug-n-play villains. I think they're a necessary component of good cape comics. But the Armadillo has been a flunky his entire career. So let's try something radical, shall we? Lets make him a hero. See, the 'reverse-heel-turn' has been a staple of comics for a long time, but lately it's been almost exclusively applied to popular villains...Venom, Sabretooth, i.e. villains who have little to no reason to be 'good guys' so much as 'protagonists'. But Armadillo? Yeah, crime is not paying for this gentleman. But he's not cut out to be an Avenger. Too many old sparring partners there. And, frankly, the Defenders will disband again before he has a chance to join. Heroes for Hire is always an interesting possibility (more on that later), but I'm going to be daring...Armadillo should join the X-Men. He's not a mutant, true, but neither is Namor, really (he's a hybrid, not a mutation of an existing species-in effect, Namor is a NEW species) I mean, if Namor's a mutant, so's Jim Hammond (a robot who spontaneously evolved self-awareness isn't a mutant?) And if we're opening up the field to that extent, Armadillo fits right in. He's looking for a place to belong. A place with laws and a social fabric that will allow him to be normal. In normal society, Armadillo is the odd man out. He's not particularly criminally inclined (or adept), and he's not human enough to blend in. Utopia sounds just like his kind of place, doesn't it? Among mutants, he'd be accepted. Even honoured, considering that when he's motivated, the Armadillo is dangerous enough that even Captain America thinks twice about tangling with him. There's nothing so frightening as a true-believer, remember. And no one believes truer than a new convert. Imagine that guy, eager to prove his patriotism to the mutant cause, joining the X-Men. This isn't Quicksilver joining the Avengers, this is Magneto joining the X-Men. How far could they trust a fifteen-time loser like the Armadillo? And would a mutate find a home among mutants? Or would he be only opening himself up to a different type of discrimination? Wouldn't it be neat to find out? (Cited from Villains with Potential: Armadillo) Armadillo, if he does end up appearing in Ultima, will be designed in the style of the Yost Universe, such as Avengers EMH and Wolverine & the X-Men. Armadillo Armadillo Armadillo